In order to dedicate themselves to a life of study, the King and his friends take an oath to avoid the company of women for three years. No sooner have they made their idealistic pledge than the Princess of France and her ladies-in-waiting arrive, presenting the men with a severe test of their high-minded resolve. Soon all are smitten and confusion abounds, as each struggles secretly to declare his love in this comedy of deception, desire and mistaken identity. Read more …
“What fool is not so wise
To lose an oath to win a paradise?”
The ultimate battle of the sexes, Love’s Labour’s Lost is by turns romantic, hilarious and unbearably touching and this summer Bard in the Botanics brings Shakespeare’s sparkling comedy to the Scottish professional stage for the first time in almost 50 years in a beautiful new promenade production.
There's a cheeky glee and a glint in the eye throughout, and the production is frequently funny, occasionally poignant but wonderfully entertaining throughout.
Gordon Barr’s impressive Bard In The Botanics team are simply excelling themselves with a production that comes very close to making full and beautiful sense of that overwritten torrent of super-clever poetry, Love’s Labour’s Lost.
Despite the frivolity, there's depth to Barr's production which taps into the play's complex treatise on the fragile forces of true love in a place where macho gestures simply aren't enough.
A production that, while not flawless, is great fun.
The play may not be Shakespeare’s best, but it has enough laughs to please a willing summer audience. Barr and his cast certainly succeed in squeezing as much comedy out of the piece as they can.
Bard in the Botanics, Glasgow from Wednesday June 24, 2015, until Saturday July 11, 2015. More info: http://www.bardinthebotanics.co.uk
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